Mountain home west of Jamestown severely damaged by fire

A Boulder County Sheriff's Deputy vehicle is seen near a home at 430 Overland Dr., west of Jamestown, that was damaged in an early morning fire on Saturday.
(LEWIS GEYER)

A home in unincorporated Boulder County west of Jamestown was devastated early Saturday by fire, but the cause of the blaze has yet to be determined.

Russell Leadingham, Chief of the Lefthand Fire Protection District, said the call on the fire at 430 Overland Drive in Sky View Estates came in at 4:55 a.m. Firefighters from multiple agencies battled it well into the day Saturday, continuing to knock down pockets of fire that continued to kick up periodically, as crews worked through the wreckage.

The residence was unoccupied at the time, and no injuries were reported in the blaze or the efforts to put it out.

Boulder County Sheriff's Emergency Services Sgt. Dave Booton identified one of the property owners as Susan Lutgendorf, and said she was in California at the time the fire broke out.

A home damaged by an early morning fire is seen at 430 Overland Dr., west of Jamestown on Saturday. The residence was unoccupied at the time and no injuries were reported.
(LEWIS GEYER)

Her husband, said Booton, was out of the country.

Leadingham said at mid-day Saturday that it was too soon to say whether the residence was a total loss.

"That's undetermined at this time," said Leadingham. "The structure is still standing. The fire did breach the roof and the windows."

However, Booton said, "In my opinion it's a total loss. That will be up to the insurance company, but I would say it is."

One neighborhood resident claimed the fire was triggered by a lightning strike. The mountains west of Boulder were hit by heavy rain, hail, and multiple lightning strikes Friday night.

But sheriff's investigators, through use of a software system that tracks lightning strikes, have determined the property was apparently not hit by lightning.
"It was rocking and rolling everywhere, but we couldn't confirm a positive hit on the house or near the house," said Booton. "So right now, it's undetermined."

The fire was confined to the residence, and never jumped into nearby wildland, Leadingham said. He added that there was no resident of the property home at the time, and that no injuries were reported to any of the 30 or so firefighting personnel who responded to the scene.

Agencies responding, in addition to the Lefthand Fire Protection District, included the Boulder County Sheriff's Office, Boulder Mountain Fire Protection District, the Jamestown Fire Department, the Indian Peaks Fire Protection District and American Medical Response.

An investigation into the cause of the fire is ongoing.

A home damaged by an early morning fire is seen at 430 Overland Dr., west of Jamestown.
(LEWIS GEYER)

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